


Under the Moon and So Many Stars

by ninitails



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Dystopia, Enemies to Lovers, Good luck figuring it out, Jongin probably deserved better, Killing, M/M, Mentions of Death, Nobody knows who's good and who's bad, Violence, cursing, deadly virus, lots of deaths actually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:20:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28816263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninitails/pseuds/ninitails
Summary: In a world where many people carry a deadly virus and a new government tries to rise above everyone else, two independent vigilantes try to fix the world in their own ways. It doesn't get any easier when they keep getting in each other's way. Who will get to them first—the enemy or the virus?
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Kim Jongdae | Chen
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25
Collections: Swords and Hearts 2020





	Under the Moon and So Many Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vikinglord](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vikinglord/gifts).



> **Code:** vikinglord  
>  **Prompt:** vigilantes au. In which both character A and character B are both private vigilantes and having vastly differing sets of principles. kind of like vicious by v.e. schwab ? also possibly dystopian au ?  
>  **Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction and none of the characters are owned by Swords and Hearts. All creative rights and ownership of this particular work of fiction lie with the respective authors.**
> 
> **Author's Note:** Hi, prompter. I took your prompt and went a little wild with it. Maybe this isn't exactly what you were expecting, but I hope that you still enjoy reading through it!

Fifty years ago, a terrifying number of major cities were polluted with toxic gas. Many people died, but unfortunately, death was not the guaranteed outcome. When bodies did not fall from inhaling the gas, they only got stronger, pushing past physical limits of any human, but not without any side effects. Affected survivors suffered a great deal of pain in exchange for a little bit of extra strength and swiftness.

It took years for scientists to come up with a temporary solution. First, they succeeded in developing an injection that would keep the pain away for twenty-four hours without making the body any weaker. A few years later, a long-term solution was found, but the medicine was only made available to a certain number of individuals. People who could not afford it, would not even know that something like that existed.

Things took another turn for the worse when people with unlimited strength and no pain to hold them back anymore decided to become the new government and rule over everyone who was still alive, affected or not. New rules emerged soon after that and humanity felt even more suffocated.

Various independent organizations rose in retaliation, but everyone who resisted with their names exposed were soon pronounced missing. Families were told that looking for them would only bring harm to their doorstep.

It stopped most, but not all.

It certainly did not stop Byun Baekhyun.

Except he was unable to get anything done unless he donned a full body attire, a mask and a fake name.

His goal was to kill every single one of the affected and make sure that the virus stopped spreading. To make sure that the virus stopped existing. He didn’t believe in the cure. Or the fact that affected parents could still give birth to a perfectly healthy baby. The symptoms would show eventually, he’d argue with whoever tried to tell him any different.

Of course, when you pick a side, there’s always someone who picks the same side, but holds onto a different ideology. Baekhyun had encountered someone like that too. And he hated everything about him.

Lynx, the guy was called, was against harming any affected humans who still had a chance to survive and live their lives to the end. He was hellbent on finding a permanent cure, hellbent on fixing all the issues from the shadows. And hellbent on interfering with Baekhyun’s plans.

A cold blade is pressed to a man’s throat, already drawing blood. He’s trying to say something, but everything that comes out of his mouth is a slur due to the foam collecting around his tongue, seemingly caused by the virus.

Baekhyun wants to get answers, but it’s clear that there’s nothing for him here.

With a swift motion, he cuts the man’s throat and finally relieves him of the suffering. But instead of relief, he feels annoyance that amplifies when he notices a figure standing in the corner of the alley, eyeing him quietly.

“Lynx,” he snorts, ridding his blade of blood and putting it back into the sheath. “A bit too late this time. He’s already dead.”

“Sparrow, you know you’re not going to get any information from civilians who don’t have any connections to the current self-proclaimed government. You’re going after the wrong people.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, turning on his heel. He’s not in the mood to listen to one of Lynx’s long rants about what’s right and what’s wrong. He had given him chances before; he isn’t about to fall for another trap.

“You can fuck right off.”

Suddenly, he feels a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back, and immediately, the blade that had been put aside is cutting through the air, just millimeters away from Lynx’s hand.

As much as Baekhyun hates to admit, the other has always been faster than him and that only irritates him more.

“I’m not joining your side and I’m not following your stupid advice!” He yells, blue eyes staring into brown ones fiercely.

“I’m not asking you to join me. I just think that the answers you’re looking for lie somewhere else. If you don’t stop killing innocent civilians—”

“Civilians,” he lets out a sarcastic laugh. “They’re nothing but pests carrying the virus. If you haven’t caught it yet, you’ll catch it in no time by hanging out with the scum. And then I’ll have the joy of killing you as well.”

“I won’t give you the joy.”

Lynx’s tone doesn’t seem to waver, but Baekhyun is sure that eventually he’ll end up on his hitlist. No one is safe.

With the blade back in the sheath once more, he gets rather eager to leave the scene and continue looking for clues elsewhere. “Whatever you do, just don’t fuck with me, okay?”

“Sparrow, I know your identity. If you don’t stop killing the innocent, I’ll have to expose you.”

Hearing that, Baekhyun’s heart nearly drops to the ground.

He freezes in his tracks.

He had been working so hard to keep this identity a secret, there’s no way that Lynx was able to figure it out. Baekhyun wants to believe that he’s bluffing, but the unnerving feeling doesn’t leave him.

“You’re just trying to scare me.”

And when he hears Lynx laughing like some evil villain, he knows that that’s no bluff.

“Are you scared, Byun Baekhyun?”

\--

Usually, boredom has a tendency to visit Baekhyun during regular work hours when he’s not wearing a mask and swinging his sword around to cut down people who have contracted the virus.

During those times, he makes use of the opportunity to make some coffee and socialize with other people at his workplace in hopes of luring out important information.

Of course, there’s only so much you can learn when you’re working at the office that isn’t even connected to the government directly.

Today, however, he spends more time lurking around the designated kitchen than in his cubicle. He stands in front of every co-worker he meets and actually pretends to wrestle them for fun, but in truth, it’s all because of Lynx.

Baekhyun just cannot figure out where he had managed to slip up and give away his identity.

That is, unless Lynx is closer than he thinks.

He’s fought Lynx on multiple occasions, he remembers the body frame like the lyrics to his favorite song. But none of his co-workers just seem to have that petit frame that packs quite a punch if used correctly.

Baekhyun sighs when he finally drops into his chair.

The next place he thinks of is the bar that he shows up at from time to time, but he goes there at such late hours (or perhaps early hours) that there’s rarely any people around aside from him and the bartender.

Perhaps Lynx just caught him when he was changing into his costume. Perhaps Baekhyun failed to make sure that he wasn’t being watched when he put on the mask.

And he knows that Lynx won’t hand him the answer for free. He’ll have to either beat it out of him or figure it out logically. And neither option has been working out well for Baekhyun. He doesn’t remember a fight where he wasn’t pinned to the floor or to the wall, victorious brown eyes staring straight into his.

“Fuck,” he curses under his breath as his mind walks him down the unpleasant memory lane. Baekhyun swears he’ll never settle for a lover with brown eyes as they would just remind him of his fights with Lynx all the time. Just imagining that makes him shudder.

“Are you not feeling well?”

Baekhyun forces his stare upwards, visibly annoyed about the unnecessary interaction. He doesn’t understand why anyone possesses the desire to make people at their workplace their friends. Given a chance to snatch a higher position, anyone’s bound to stab each other in the back.

“You’re not here to make my day better, are you?” He asks, attempting to sound friendly despite the contradicting feeling blooming in his chest. Squinting at the name tag, Baekhyun also finds out the man’s name. “Jongin.”

The other offers him a smile, probably wide enough for his cheeks to ache at the end of the day. “You remember my name.”

“Sure. It’s like written right there,” Baekhyun points at Jongin’s chest, still trying to understand what the guy wants from him. “Is the manager calling for me? Did I hurt someone? Do you want another fight in the kitchen? Come on now, tell me what’s up.”

A boisterous laugh makes Baekhyun realize that he sounds way too impatient when he’s cornering Jongin for answers like that, but he doesn’t really care. Why is it so hard to make people leave him alone? Unless, of course… They have valuable information for him.

“You know I would’ve fucked you up if it was a real fight,” Jongin continues laughing as he pulls a chair from another cubicle and sits down on it, earning a very irritated groan from Baekhyun.

“I’ve fought Lynx on many occasions and he’s never won against me. You wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Whatever annoyance was occupying Baekhyun’s body is suddenly replaced with fear. Not fear for his life, but fear that everyone he knows might be hiding secrets from him. Everyone he’s close to might be the enemy.

Out of habit, his hand moves to his hip, but there’s no blade to make him feel any safer.

Jongin seems to notice that as the smirk on his face only grows.

“It’s kind of funny, actually,” Jongin continues, crossing his arms over his chest and looking around as if to make sure everyone else is too immersed in their work to eavesdrop on their conversation. “If you teamed up with Lynx, you could have a chance to win against us, but the fact that you’re not listening to him makes me victorious without even a fight.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Baekhyun asks when he finally snaps out of it. No matter how calm he tries to remain, his shoulders still tremble a bit. One wrong move and this could be the end of him. “And why the hell does everyone know who I am?”

Jongin hums, reaching out to take a pen. “You can blame Lynx for that.”

One swift motion and the pen that was in Jongin’s hand is suddenly stuck in Baekhyun’s thigh and Baekhyun swallows down a scream, only letting out a shuddering breath from the sudden pain.

“And if you don’t know who I am, that’s all the better. Looks like Lynx isn’t such a blabbermouth around you.”

With that said, the chair scrapes against the floor and Baekhyun wonders why no one in the office bothers to look at them. Could they be accomplices too? Breathing heavily, he watches as Jongin walks away from him, and Baekhyun once again starts feeling like the whole world is against him. He’s not safe even at his own workplace.

A pained whine leaves his lips as he pulls the pen out of his thigh, eyeing the blood on his pants.

Quitting seems like a good option, but if the answers indeed lie in his office, then staying away from it for the sake of his safety isn’t going to bring him to victory. He’ll play with fire if he has to.

\--

First snow shows up in August, but that’s not something that surprises the citizens anymore. The seasons have been messed up ever since the toxic gas incident.

If they weren’t fighting, perhaps Lynx would be making an angel shape on the fresh snow. But now Baekhyun has him pinned to the ground, demanding answers about Jongin and everything else he cannot figure out on his own.

Blood trickles down Lynx’s cheek as he attempts to speak, but it’s probably hard to do that with Baekhyun pushing him down so hard. Yet Baekhyun shows no mercy, especially when he’s fueled by the pain he still feels in his thigh.

“Lynx, if you don’t tell me who you are—” He’s breathing heavily as he reaches out to tug on the pinned man’s mask, pulling it off without much resistance from the other.

But it stuns him when he recognizes the face—the face that’s now laughing at him.

“Jongin, you’re Lynx?!” Baekhyun yells, scrambling to get off and take a better look from further away. “What the fuck?”

“You’re so dumb, Baekhyun,” Jongin snickers before wiping the blood from his mouth and pushing himself to his feet. He staggers a bit and Baekhyun secretly takes pride in that; it just means that he has managed to do some serious damage.

“And before you think that you did anything here—”

Then Jongin jumps forward with ease, pulling out a gun from God knows where and Baekhyun vaguely remembers thinking that guns aren’t really Lynx’s style before he’s shoved to the side hard enough to trip over his own feet and land in a pile of snow.

When he looks back, he sees two people standing in front of each other, looking like they’re about to murder one another. And the funny thing is that they’re both dressed like Lynx, except Jongin isn’t wearing the mask anymore.

“I fooled your boy.”

That’s all Jongin says before he turns around and takes off, and the other Lynx doesn’t make an attempt to go after him. Instead, he turns to Baekhyun and just stares down at him, no clear emotion on his face.

It’s hard to guess what he’s thinking and Baekhyun isn’t really into guessing games, so he reaches for his blade and points it upwards in defense. He doesn’t like this defensive position, but he’s also pushed into a corner where it seems like he’s the only one without any answers.

But instead of having to defend against an attack, he hears this.

“I’m sorry, Baekhyun.”

“What?” He asks, wide eyes being a sign of nothing else but confusion.

Lynx carefully kneels down next to him and Baekhyun hesitantly lowers the blade, allowing less distance between them. He feels like he needs to hear him out, especially the way Lynx’s aura holds no hostility any longer.

“I don’t know how many times we fought because we were after the same goal, but chose different paths, but there was one time when I wasn’t trying to win against you. There was one time when my priority was to pin you down for a second and give you a shot without you noticing. I did it and since then—you’ve been immune.”

Baekhyun loses control of his jaw, his blade now forgotten by his side.

Lynx has made him immune before he could ever get infected with the deadly virus.

Lynx has saved him without him even noticing.

“Is it permanent?” He mutters, still not being able to believe his ears.

Lynx shakes his head. “It works for a long time, but it gradually wears down. Everyone in your office is infected and it’s Jongin who’s been spreading it there. He’s so fascinated with you because you haven’t experienced a single symptom despite him constantly trying to expose you to the virus.”

Baekhyun’s mind takes him right back to that time yesterday where Jongin stabbed him with a pen. It could’ve been an attempt as well and he didn’t even know about it. Heck, if Lynx hadn’t done what he did, Baekhyun would be carrying the virus now despite swearing to kill off everyone who was even the tiniest bit affected.

“Who else is spreading it?” He asks, but Lynx doesn’t give an answer right away. The silence continues for a while before he finally speaks up.

“Our organization cannot—Hell, I’ll stop pretending that I’m running an organization when I’m working solely on my own. I cannot track down everyone, but I’m sure that Jongin is one of the more important ones. There’s probably a ton of insignificant people who have nothing better to do than spread the virus too.”

“Hold up,” Baekhyun laughs, reaching out to curl his hand around Lynx’s collar. “You asshole had me thinking that I have a whole army to be afraid of when you were mixing chemicals and discovering the cure on your own?”

The fact that Lynx only smiles at him leaves Baekhyun amused to the point where he feels dizzy. “I can’t believe you.”

\--

Somehow Lynx manages to convince Baekhyun that he needs to get another shot just in case Jongin’s experiments have worn down the cure that he had received previously and Baekhyun follows Lynx back to an old apartment on the first floor with a secret door under the carpet that leads underground. If he was about to get murdered in cold blood, this would be the perfect scenario for it.

But instead, he finally gets to see Lynx without a mask as the man undresses himself in front of him with zero shame whatsoever. Baekhyun has to admit, not only his face looks attractive, but his body could be put to better use as well. He looks away at the exact second Lynx looks back at him, not giving him the chance to catch his stare.

“So,” Baekhyun clears his throat, removing his own mask, but staying dressed otherwise. “Apparently you know my name, but what’s yours?”

“Jongdae,” the other answers after putting on some casual clothes—black sweatpants and a grey shirt that has probably seen better days.

“Is it even appropriate to say nice to meet you?” Baekhyun hums.

Jongdae laughs, all sincere and sweet, and Baekhyun allows himself to relax a little. It’s crazy how much he lets his guard down, but maybe that’s exactly the key to winning this long battle. He’s been too uptight for too long.

“Stay still, it’ll only last a second,” the other male interrupts his thoughts and Baekhyun tenses up when he feels the needle prick his skin. But Jongdae is true to his words, it really does last a second before it’s done and Baekhyun’s head seems clearer than it was just a minute ago.

He rubs his neck where the needle had just been. “Do you also take these shots?”

“Who do you think I tested it on?” Jongdae raises an eyebrow and Baekhyun makes a face, wondering how this man is still alive. The cure couldn’t have been perfected on his first try. And side effects exist as well.

“I’m just kidding,” Jongdae says when he notices Baekhyun’s facial expression. “I had a brother who was infected and I tried so hard to invent something that would save him in time.”

He doesn’t continue, but the way Jongdae words the sentence is enough for Baekhyun to know how exactly that ended.

“I’m sorry,” He gives Jongdae’s shoulder a squeeze that lingers for a bit longer than necessary. “I should probably go and do some thinking. There’s a lot to digest after today. At least now I know you’re not the enemy, even if I still don’t appreciate your methods. But I do appreciate what you’ve done for me.”

“Right,” Jongdae nods to that. “I’ll see you off.”

Baekhyun only makes half the trip home before he turns around. His mind is in chaos, his emotions are a mess, but there’s one thing he knows he wants to do.

The doors open and he pushes inside without an invitation, hands clutching at Jongdae’s shirt.

“Please tell me if I got it wrong,” Baekhyun mumbles before his lips crash against Jongdae’s for a needy kiss and he feels Jongdae responding to it with just as much fervor. Relief barely manages to fill his veins before lust takes over.

They pull at each other’s clothes, Jongdae struggling a bit with Baekhyun’s tight suit, but soon enough, their bare chests are pressed flush as Baekhyun catches his breath and Jongdae stares at his face in much too obvious awe.

“What?” Baekhyun asks, suddenly feeling shy.

Jongdae reaches up to run his fingers through the mess on Baekhyun’s head. “It’s weird. I knew what you looked like, but it’s the first time that I’m getting such a good look at your face.”

A snort pushes itself through Baekhyun lips. He really doesn’t know how to respond to that when it was his actual first time seeing Jongdae without a mask and he nearly fell in love at first sight. He allows the other to have his moment, simply smiling at him, before something starts gnawing at his chest.

“This isn’t right,” Baekhyun mumbles and detaches himself from Jongdae. “We were enemies for the longest time. What kind of a man am I if I just jump into your arms as soon as you take off the mask and tell me some sweet words to get under my skin? What if you’re just trying to use me?”

He sees the other shaking his head, but he holds up a hand between them before looking around cautiously.

“I can’t even be sure that Jongin’s not watching us from somewhere and laughing his ass off.”

“I would never let him do that,” Jongdae says as he gets up and reaches for Baekhyun who once again escapes his arms before they can envelop him in an embrace far too reassuring for a reality like theirs.

Instead of saying anything else, Baekhyun stares. He stares at the pair of lips he had just kissed; he stares at the desperation in Jongdae’s eyes, he notices how Jongdae’s fingers tremble ever so slightly when his hands drop to his sides. All of the signs that their feelings are genuine are there, but Baekhyun just cannot let himself succumb to that.

“I’m sorry,” He mumbles before reaching for his clothes. “Maybe once Jongin’s taken care of, maybe when this world is in a better place, maybe then we can try this again.”

A hand on his arm stops him from stepping out of the apartment, but Baekhyun shrugs it off and heaves a sigh. He looks back at Jongdae, pained expression resting on his face.

“You know we might not survive to see that come true,” Jongdae reminds him and Baekhyun knows. He knows one of them might not come out alive. Or it could be both of them.

“I guess we’ll do this in the afterlife then,” he manages to smile before disappearing into the cold night.

\--

The next few days are terrible.

Baekhyun takes some time off work to avoid having to face Jongin, but sitting at home doesn’t help when he needs to deal with these newly sprouted feelings for someone he once considered a mortal enemy.

He decides to roam the streets, see how the world’s doing, but he keeps running into the person he doesn’t want to see. It’s a pain to run away from him as well, because every time Jongdae catches him snooping around, he makes sure they’re alone, shoves him against the wall and kisses him until he’s out of breath.

Baekhyun hates that.

He also hates that he loves it so much.

Baekhyun gets so involved with this seemingly harmless roaming around that it catches him completely off guard when he gets a call from his boss, telling him that he’s fired for slacking off. He feels sudden frustration because that means he won’t be able to investigate the situation in his office anymore, but he also feels relief and he doesn’t even know where that comes from. It probably has something to do with Lynx.

That pent up frustration has to go somewhere.

And Baekhyun only feels better when he slashes the throat of a sick teenager, blood splattering on the wet concrete now that the snow has melted.

Killing someone should never make anyone feel better, but it does the trick for Baekhyun and he doesn’t feel guilty about it.

At least he doesn’t until he turns around to see Lynx staring right at him. Only then he gets the sinking feeling in his gut.

Baekhyun knows just how much Jongdae is against murder of any kind, be it out of need or pity.

He steps forward in a hurry, putting away his blade without even shaking the blood off.

“Jong—No, Lynx! I need to talk to you.”

But instead, Baekhyun sees Lynx turning away from him. He sees the guy’s shoulders tremble before he takes the shaky steps to widen the gap between them.

In the heat of the moment, Baekhyun leaps forward and catches Lynx’s hand in his, pulling him right back. It’s only when he sees Lynx’s pained expression that he realizes his hand is balled into a tight fist.

“I thought we had an unspoken agreement,” Lynx mutters under his breath.

Baekhyun notices all the emotions in Lynx’s behavior. Betrayal, hurt, confusion, perhaps even regret. He wants to kiss that negativity away, but he also understands that he’s the primary cause of it.

So, he asks.

Carefully.

With cold fingers still holding onto Lynx’s wrist.

“Will you kiss me?”

Silence stretches between them way too long while Baekhyun waits for an answer. Lynx’s skin provides enough heat to warm up Baekhyun’s fingertips, but there’s ice in his eyes.

“Sparrow, you’ve got too much blood on your hands. I can’t kiss you without opening my eyes for a moment and seeing the pile of dead bodies behind you.”

“We can go somewhere else—”

“No, you don’t understand,” Lynx shakes his head. “That teenager you just killed. What if he had someone to kiss too? He had dreams just like all of us.”

Baekhyun wants to speak up, to apologize, but Lynx doesn’t give him the chance.

“Who are you to decide who dies and who gets to live? And what if I get sick one day? Will you kill me too?”

“But you have the cure—and you can find a permanent solution, I’m sure of it,” Baekhyun tries to argue.

“I could’ve given him the cure as well!” Lynx gestures towards the corpse as his voice pierces through the dark night. “So, tell me, what gives you the right to take away lives before I can save them?”

Baekhyun takes a step back and looks down at the ground.

Those kisses they had been sharing the past few weeks made Baekhyun forget all about the differences between them. Somehow, he had convinced himself that everything would work out just fine if he could just have Jongdae for himself.

As if the virus would magically vanish from the world if he could just stay around Lynx.

As if.

“You’re right,” Baekhyun sniffles quietly before he looks up at Lynx, a weak smile forced on his face. “We were never meant to be.”

He only remembers to breathe when Lynx is nowhere to be seen anymore.

\--

It has been months since Baekhyun last saw Lynx.

He doesn’t know if Jongdae just ditched his fake identity and decided to focus on the cure, or if he got killed by Jongin somewhere.

The fact that Jongin hasn’t showed up before him either leaves him feeling quite anxious, but there’s nothing Baekhyun can do about it when he has zero clues as to where the guy is.

He did try going back to his office to ask about it, but nobody even remembered a guy like Jongin working there. That can only mean that there’s some serious brainwashing going on in that office.

There are no leads to follow, so Baekhyun just continues doing what he has been doing for the past few months - he corners people who are infected with the virus and attempts to ask them for information. If they don’t have it, he lets them go. If they turn aggressive and try to fight him, Baekhyun deals with them by rendering them unconscious with the dull side of his blade. 

An improvement. 

Jongdae would be proud of him.

A sigh slips past Baekhyun’s lips when he realizes that his mind is wandering back to Jongdae once again. It’s like Jongdae himself is the virus in Baekhyun’s system and Baekhyun is terribly, terribly lovesick.

Something flashes ahead and Baekhyun draws his blade hurriedly, not bothering to flip it around when he recognizes the face in front of him.

“It’s been a while, you fucker. Where have you been hiding?” He sneers.

“Here and there,” Jongin answers as nonchalantly as ever as he leans against the wall. “We caught your sweetheart a few days ago and have been torturing him for information as to why you’re immune to the virus. Since he’s still staying silent, I thought bringing him your head might just make him talk.”

“Couldn’t you just ask me?” No matter how much Baekhyun tries to remain calm, the fire right under his skin makes his entire body tremble in pure rage.

“Would you tell?”

“Not a chance.”

“There’s your answer,” Jongin moves away from the wall, but doesn’t bother getting into a fighting stance to face Baekhyun. “Here’s a deal. How about you come with me and make him talk for us? No one will have to die then.”

It’s quite a good opportunity to get some answers. Or at least hints to the answers. 

But this could also be a trap.

But he also wants to see Jongdae.

Baekhyun figures he’ll deal with it when he has to, so he puts away his sword and follows Jongin, keeping a safe distance between them.

They end up at an old laboratory that has supposedly been closed for years now. It looks abandoned and there’s not a single sound bouncing off the dirty walls, thus Baekhyun keeps his hand on his blade in case this is a trap that Jongin has just lured him into.

But then Jongin opens the door to the room in the very back and Baekhyun sees the person he has been yearning to see again.

Except not like this.

Jongdae is tied to a chair and there’s burn marks all over his naked arms. His head hangs low and his hair is a total mess, and Baekhyun just wants to step forward and fix it for him.

The traces of blood on the floor indicate that there was more to this torture than just burning the skin off the bones.

Baekhyun doesn’t know how to call out for him since Jongin may or may not know his true identity, but Jongin is actually kind enough to solve the mystery for him.

“Hey, Jongdae, look who came to see you.”

The head lift is slow, but once Baekhyun sees Jongdae’s brown eyes, relief washes over him immediately. They stare at each other for a few moments and it’s only later that Jongdae’s eyes acquire a gleam of recognition. How much did this man go through?

“Baekhyun? Why did you come?”

Jongdae’s voice is raspy to the point where Baekhyun barely recognizes it.

He glances to the side to see Jongin eyeing them with curiosity. Baekhyun isn’t aware of how much Jongin knows about them or how much Jongdae has told him, but something tells him that there’s not much to hide anymore.

Turning to Jongin, he decides to ask the question to which he might get the truth or just another lie.

“Will you let him go if I tell you why I’m immune?”

“Depends,” Jongin hums and reaches out to touch Baekhyun’s arm, but Baekhyun takes a step to the side before there can be any skin contact between them. Jongin only laughs before he continues. “We might still need your blood if it’s any special, but sure… Jongdae can go.”

It only takes a moment for Baekhyun to connect the dots. If his blood was special, they would keep him around for experiments. But since it’s Jongdae who came up with the cure, there’s no way to get him out of this situation. If he tells the truth, they could just keep him and force to share the cure with the government, keeping it far out of a regular person’s hands. That’s not what Jongdae wants. Baekhyun doesn’t want that either. He realizes he has to come up with a lie.

“I came up with a cure,” he blurts out.

Weird tension rises in the room and Baekhyun notices that Jongdae is glaring daggers at him, but he’s not saying anything to refute his statement. He takes it as a green light to continue with the lie.

“I don’t have a hideout on my own, so I’ve been experimenting on things in Jongdae’s basement. Not to raise any suspicion, we had to act like we were enemies in front of you and everyone else. If you want the recipe, I can give it to you, but I can’t get into the hideout without Jongdae, so you’ll have to let him go.”

A weak whine comes from Jongdae and Baekhyun recognizes it as disapproval, but he doesn’t care. He just needs Jongin to believe him.

Eyes narrowed slightly, Jongin stares at him blankly. “You expect me to believe that when Jongdae already told us the real truth?”

Baekhyun’s blood pressure rises in an instant. 

“What did he tell you?”

“That you’re a special one and that it’s your semen that makes people immune,” Jongin glances downwards as he says that, but Baekhyun is too busy doubling over in laughter to care about that.

It makes him feel even better when he hears Jongdae snickering as well while Jongin looks heavily offended. Poor dude probably thought of luring Baekhyun into the hideout, strapping him to a chair and sucking him off for a “cure”.

“I can’t believe he said that with a straight face,” Baekhyun says as he wipes tears from the corners of his eyes. “Actually, I can’t believe you fell for that.”

However, the laughter leaves the room as soon as Jongin shoves Baekhyun to a wall and points a gun to his head. Baekhyun attempts to reach for his blade, but Jongin is faster than him, spinning him around and kicking the blade out of his reach once it falls on the floor with a sharp sound.

Jongdae attempts to free himself from the restraints and help out, but it’s futile when he’s so worn down from Jongin’s previous torture.

Then the door opens again.

“What the fuck is happening here?”

Everyone turns towards a new voice in the room.

A short man stands in the doorway, narrowing his eyes at each person before his stare locks on Jongin and he lifts a hand with a gun, planting a bullet in Jongin’s head in a matter of seconds.

Jongdae and Baekhyun look at each other for a brief second before Baekhyun jumps to get his blade and slashes the ropes around Jongdae’s wrists, and Jongdae reaches for the gun that Jongin’s dead body is still holding onto. They get into defensive positions, but the man doesn’t seem like he wants to fight either of them.

“Good grief, that snake was getting on my nerves. Pretending to work for the government and torturing people for his own amusement. He’s been stealing from us for ages. It’s a good thing I was tracking your clumsy ass, Sparrow. You led me right to him,” the man says before he turns towards another guy in the hallway. “We’re done here, Chanyeol. Shithead’s taken care of.”

The tall guy pauses in his tracks when he sees Baekhyun, then his wide-eyed gaze wanders to Jongdae who looks just as confused as Baekhyun.

“We’re not killing these two?”

The nameless man shakes his head, turning around on his heel and putting his gun away.

“Leave them. Boss said we still need them alive.” Then he takes out his phone and dials a number. “Kyungsoo here. Jongin’s dead. He probably ran out of meds and wasn’t in the condition to run away from me this time.”

Once the phone call is over, Chanyeol follows after Kyungsoo and Baekhyun is left alone with Jongdae. He takes one good look at Jongin’s dead body before focusing on the other person in the room.

“Looks like one problem is dealt with, but we’ve discovered a new one, probably a lot bigger.”

“Yeah, who the hell were they? And who was Jongin then?”

Baekhyun simply shakes his head. “I have no idea. I thought you knew more than me.”

“Apparently not,” Jongdae sighs. “Looks like Jongin was pulling wool over my eyes to get his hands on the cure.”

Realizing that Jongdae is having a hard time standing on his own, Baekhyun moves closer to offer a shoulder to lean on. He hears a silent ‘thank you’ in return, but what he focuses on is how his skin burns where Jongdae is touching him, despite the few layers of clothes between them.

“Did you really tell him that my semen makes people immune?” Baekhyun asks once they’re out in the streets.

It might be his imagination, but Jongdae seems to lean onto him a bit more. “I did, but honestly, I’m yet to find out.”

Baekhyun doesn’t know how to respond to that.

\--

It takes a few weeks for Jongdae to get back on his feet, but that’s plenty of time for Baekhyun to show that he doesn’t have any intention to kill innocent people anymore. Jongdae watches him with pride every time Baekhyun manages to safely knock out a civilian going on a virus-fueled rampage. Then Jongdae gives them a shot of his newly designed, longer lasting vaccine and they drop them off at the nearest hospital. It’s still not perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Seeking for a thrill to relieve the tension, they sneak onto the roof of a skyscraper in their city. The wind blows right into their faces and Jongdae lets out the most carefree laugh that Baekhyun just falls in love with.

Their gazes lock for a moment, and Jongdae reaches out to take Baekhyun’s hand, surprising the other.

“Do you miss the bloodlust?” He asks seriously despite the joyful expression on his face.

“I do, but I figured I can live off another type of lust,” Baekhyun replies, turning his wrist to intertwine their fingers and pull Jongdae to himself. His chat flat against Jongdae’s, he gazes into the brown eyes. “You’re not against that, are you?”

It’s obvious that Jongdae’s only pretending to think about it, so Baekhyun takes the opportunity to capture his lips in a kiss.

It feels like it’s been ages since they had kissed, and it actually has. The last time was before Baekhyun decided to kill that teenager that Jongdae could’ve managed to save. But he doesn’t like to think back to that.

They part once the inevitable need for oxygen forces them to.

“Why did you come back then? When Jongin asked you to?”

“I just wanted to see you again,” Baekhyun confesses without any hesitation. “During that time when we didn’t get to see each other much, I had a lot of things to think about. My main question to myself was “what goal I was trying to reach?” and once I realized that I didn’t want to kill half of the population, but rather try to save the majority of it, I changed my way of doing things.”

He waits a second, gauging Jongdae’s reaction.

“And yeah, I won’t lie, I thought that by choosing to save people instead of killing them, I could have a chance with you. And I really wanted that.”

“You might regret that,” Jongdae smiles. “I’m not all that great.”

“It’s not about greatness. It’s about the way you make me feel. I don’t know a better explanation for it, but if this world was doomed and you’d stay by my side through it all, I would be totally fine with it.”

Words leap out of Baekhyun’s mouth before he even thinks about them, but even when he does, he realizes that he wouldn’t take them back. That’s how he really feels; that’s how he felt the entire time, but was too scared to get attached to someone he could lose so easily.

“Come,” Jongdae says as he pulls on Baekhyun’s hand, leading him back towards the staircase. “We have something to test. I’m shy under the moon and so many stars.”

He doesn’t have to spell it out for Baekhyun to understand what exactly that means.

Clothes are discarded as soon as they enter Jongdae’s apartment, but for the peace of an elderly lady living next door, they move underground without breaking apart for a single second. They settle on the sofa there, probably stained with various chemicals from Jongdae’s experiments, but neither of them gives a shit about it when they both have raging boners in their pants.

They end up having sex that night, heated and needy, clawing at each other for purchase.

Later, Baekhyun even claims that that was the best thing he’s ever done as Jongdae carefully wraps a scarf around numerous hickeys littered on his neck.

It’s cute, really. There’s this side of Jongdae that Baekhyun’s never knew about, but once he sees how Jongdae blushes under his ministrations or how he squeaks when Baekhyun spooks him from behind, he falls in love even more. It’s when he spends quiet time with Jongdae that he forgets what kind of world they live in.

The harsh reminder comes when Baekhyun wakes up to the sound of the door being kicked in and before he can register anything, Chanyeol is dragging Jongdae out of the apartment. He jumps out of the bed and tries to fight, but his blade can’t do anything against Kyungsoo’s swift reactions and a gun.

“Where are you taking him?!” He yells, tears threatening to fall from his eyes because he’s not ready to lose Jongdae. He’ll never be ready for that.

“He’s done a good job seducing you, we’re taking him back to the officials. To where he really belongs,” Kyungsoo explains in a voice colder than ice.

Eyes fixed on his lover’s face, Baekhyun cannot believe that the government is where Jongdae really belongs. He has talked about saving people with such enthusiasm that Baekhyun just can’t pin him as the bad guy.

Perhaps he was at first, but this world has changed him. Baekhyun firmly believes in that.

“I’ll come for you,” he whispers while looking straight at Jongdae and faith settles in his bones when Jongdae nods to that, reaching out towards him for the last time.

\--

“If star-crossed lovers we might be, I’ll destroy the world just so I can be with you,” Baekhyun hums to himself before he swallows a chemical mixture that Jongdae had started working on just before he was kidnapped by Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. It’s a drug that spreads the virus through the body like fire, enhancing all the physical abilities of a human, but without the torturous pain that comes with it. The only downside to it? If not given the antidote within twenty-four hours, insanity takes over, destroying the body from the inside.

He closes his eyes for a brief moment and smells the night air one last time before pushing the doors open and lunging inside, swiftly jumping from one person to another, dead bodies only falling in his path.

On the second floor, he encounters Kyungsoo, but the guy doesn’t even get to touch the gun before his throat is slit, blood splattering everywhere.

On the fourth floor, Baekhyun manages to corner Chanyeol. The guy trembles underneath him, fear obvious in his eyes.

“Where’s Jongdae?” Baekhyun asks in a voice that doesn’t sound like his at all.

“Top floo—” and he’s dead before he gets to finish the sentence.

Kicking the body aside, Baekhyun stands up to make his way to the top floor, but when he turns around, he sees Jongdae standing right in front of him, an unreadable expression on his face.

“Sparrow.” He says and Baekhyun feels weak in his knees. What happened to calling him by his name?

He lifts his blade, pointing the tip of it at Jongdae’s chest. “Enemy?”

The man shakes his head, holding out a bottle that looks exactly like the one Baekhyun had swallowed before entering the building. It turns out that Jongdae had done the exact same thing—infecting himself with the virus in hopes of reuniting with Baekhyun.

“I don’t have the antidote though. I never finished it,” he adds, sadness clear in his voice.

Baekhyun steps forward to envelop the guy in his arms.

“We’ll figure something out—or if we don’t, at least we’ll die by each other’s side.”

“I’m fine with that.”

“Are you, really?”

“Baekhyun, I don’t care about anything right now. I love you—I love you, and that’s all that matters to me.”

They melt into each other, exhaling heavy breaths.

“I love you too, but fuck, I’d love to live with you a little longer.”

Pulling back, Baekhyun reaches up to hold Jongdae’s face in his hands. He stares at those brown eyes that used to annoy him and swears that he’s never loved anything more than those chocolate orbs.

“Promise me we’ll try our best to live a little longer.”

“I promise.”

But the tear that rolls down Jongdae’s cheek threatens to break that promise.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah... I don't know if they live either.


End file.
